


Avoid Fate

by Winterling42



Series: The Woods [7]
Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Boys Kissing, Communication, Feelings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-24 22:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12022710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winterling42/pseuds/Winterling42
Summary: Ral figures out that Jace has been avoiding him, and decides to do something about it.





	1. Chapter 1

After his dramatic capture and equally dramatic rescue, Ral figured out that Jace was avoiding him. He hadn’t caught on before, in the weeks between the Golgari chase (the kiss) and the Rakdos club meeting. He’d been busy catching Mizzet, and then doing all the make-work his advisor tossed down. It turned out that since Izzet paperwork just said ‘physics’ instead of ‘magic,’ the papers were a lot like the stuff he’d been doing already.

Anyway, Jace had been avoiding him out of some mistaken sense of chivalry. Or maybe it was denial. And now he was trying to pull the same thing: Ral had woken up the next day in his own bed, with his backpack and laptop sitting on the desk next to him. Since then he’d heard nothing, not a text or a note or a bat signal. Jace’d also stopped coming to the Climate and Physics class, so Ral _knew_ that something was up. Except now he was right back to where he’d started this whole mess: looking for Jace Beleren and not knowing how or where to look. Well, that wasn’t quite true. He had one idea on where to look.

He walked into the security office innocent as a lamb, pretending to look over the parking permits so he could scope out where Lavinia’s desk was and go bother her directly. “I need to see Jace.”

Lavinia scowled up at him. “You can’t just _see_ the Guildpact,” she said, and she didn’t sound prim so much as stubborn as hell. “I can put you on the waiting list.”

“Yeah, and how long’s that?” It was a rhetorical question, but Lavinia turned back to her computer to check the actual times. Ral leaned casually against the desk and watched as Titus’ scowl deepened. Sadly, there were no blinking neon signs saying ‘Guildpact office this way,’ but Ral figured the most logical place to put Mr. Law and Order would be with all the stuffy administrative security officers. Seriously, these guys spent more time asleep in their patrol cars than they did filing the massive amounts of paperwork the university required to keep running, and that was saying quite a bit.

“The next available time is in December.” Lavinia said. Ral hadn’t really thought about the actual answer, and he laughed.

“Seriously?”

“Am I ever _not_ serious?” Lavinia asked, and if Ral was being charitable he might have called her expression a smile. Or maybe it would count as a micro expression.

“That’s not happening,” Ral started towards the nearest hallway, glancing back to check on her expression. Lavinia started out of her chair, eyes narrowing, but it wasn’t until he switch-backed towards the stairs that she really started coming after him.

Ral grinned, calculating the differences in their heights and how long he could stay ahead of an angry Azorius enforcer. He figured it was long enough to find Jace, and raced her to the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

There still weren’t any flashing neon signs, more’s the pity, but he did find a door at the end of the second-floor hallway with Jace’s name on it. Ral didn’t bother to knock, since the pounding of angry feet in combat boots behind him was probably entrance enough.

“Beleren,” he said, sweeping into the room with more grace than he’d hoped for. “Wow. This place is pretty nice. I thought they’d put you in a broom closet or something.” That was about when Lavinia tackled him to the floor. At least it was carpet instead of linoleum.

Jace had jumped about three feet when Ral came in, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of a particularly angry eighteen-wheeler. Now he stood to look over his desk and watch as Ral tried (and failed) to dislodge a small and very angry law mage on his back.

“I just need five minutes,” Ral hissed, slipping his hand out of Lavinia’s when she went to close the cuff. He twisted his head around to look at Jace, who was still looking a little shell-shocked. “You can’t avoid me forever. I’ll come sit on your doorstep until you talk to me. Or I can wait outside the doors here, though I really don’t trust you not to have a secret getaway.” Lavinia recaptured his hands at that point and successfully cuffed them to each other. Ral continued to glare at Jace. The Living Guildpact sighed, fell back into his chair, and rubbed both hands over his face.

“It’s alright, Lavinia,” he said at last, slightly muffled by the hands. “I’ll talk to him.”

“You don’t have to,” Titus responded at once, hauling Ral back to his feet. “We’ll just send a patrol car out to chase him off your steps every few hours—“

“It’s fine,” Jace sighed again, letting his hands flop down onto the arm rests. “We really do need to talk.”

Ral turned around to make sure Lavinia got the full brunt of his eyebrow raise, and wiggled his hands. She looked at him for a few long seconds, then shook her head. “You better not make him late for anything,” she said. “And those stay on. You can talk without your hands.”

Ral stuck his tongue out at her, but only after she’d closed the door. Then he turned back to Jace, who was fiddling with some of the papers on his desk. He didn’t even have a computer, the savage.

“I know you’ve been avoiding me,” Ral said.

Except at the exact same time Jace was saying, “I shouldn’t have gotten you involved in this,” and Ral ended up scowling, and Jace ended up rolling his eyes, and all in all it wasn’t all that great a start.

“Okay, first thing’s first,” Ral sat in one of the armchairs in front of Jace’s desk, which would have been uncomfortable even if his hands _hadn’t_ been cuffed behind his back. “You didn’t get me involved in anything. Second thing second, you don’t get to cut me out because I got hurt. That wouldn’t solve anything _and_ it would hurt worse, so don’t do it.”

“Of course I was—wait, hurt worse?”

Ral narrowed his eyes. “Yes, Beleren. You think I went to all this trouble to figure you out just so you could leave me behind?”

Jace made a skeptical _tch_ sound behind his teeth. “At least I walked in to this knowing exactly what was going on. You didn’t sign up to be kidnapped and beat with fucking chains.”

“Don’t even pull that crap,” Ral leaned forward, feeling the marks from Exava’s attention all along his back and ribs. “I was Izzet long before you came along. You think she wouldn’t have pulled one of the other grad students in the League? You think it would have been better if it was Maree, or Crix, or anyone else? Why is that, Jace? Because if it was that you wouldn’t have rescued them, then you’re a bigger asshole than I thought.”

Jace shoved himself away from the desk. His voice didn’t get any louder when he was angry—it just got a lot more intense. “Fuck you, Ral Zarek,” he snarled. “I’m trying to do you a _favor_ here. Trust me. I’ve been here before.”

“No, _you_ trust _me_.” Ral stood up and _loomed_. Jace stood up to try and mitigate it, but the fact that he was still a good three inches shorter didn’t help. “Damnit Jace, you don’t get to run away from your feelings, and I don’t want to run away from mine. Cop out on this if you want, but I won’t let you do it because you’re afraid that I’ll get hurt. That’s just a shitty reason to do anything.” Jace hesitated before answering this time, and Ral let him. After all, his whole point in coming here had been to make Jace _think_ about what he was doing.

“Feelings,” Jace said at last, but before Ral could make fun of him he added, “and yes, I know what you’re talking about, Zarek. I just…I haven’t exactly had a lot of…success with them.”

“You also haven’t denied having them, which is always a good first step,” Ral added. More seriously he said, “You have feelings, I have feelings. Maybe we can just…see where that goes?”

Jace’s smile was a crooked one, but Ral didn’t mind. He was starting to think he liked those smiles best, at least when made by Jace Beleren. “If Mizzet comes down here to burn down the building, I’m blaming you,” he said, and kissed Ral to seal the deal.

He leaned in with both eyes open, one hand coming to rest on Ral’s shoulder, grounding them. Ral would never do something as embarrassing as let seed lightning interrupt a Moment, but he did kiss back hungrily, careless of how precariously they balanced on the desk between them.

**Author's Note:**

> me: I love writing kisses!  
> also me: why is this so hard to write. :(


End file.
